One of the best kickers in the Canadian Football League over the last decade is now getting his chance to show what he can do in the National Football League. On Monday, the Los Angeles Rams announced that they have signed kicker Lirim Hajrullahu of St. Catharines, Ontario to a three year contract according to Justin Dunk of 3 Down Nation.
Hajrullahu has spent the last six seasons in the CFL. He played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2014 and 2015, the Toronto Argonauts in 2016 and 2017 and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2018 and 2019.
Last season with the Tiger-Cats, Hajrullahu made 47 of 55 field goals and 26 of 28 converts. He also had the longest field goal of his career as he kicked a 56 yard field goal in a 64-14 Tiger-Cats win over the Argonauts on June 22. In six seasons, the University of Western Ontario product has made 239 of 287 field goal attempts.
Harjullahu has also looked after punting duties over the last six seasons in the CFL. Last season in Hamilton, he had 106 punts for 3835 yards. In Harjullahu’s career, he has 651 punts for 22961 yards.
The Rams were in need of a kicker after Greg Zuerlein signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys on March 30. Ironically, he signed a three year contract as well.
However it appears there is no guarantee that Harjullahu will be the starting kicker for the Rams this season. That is because Los Angeles also signed kicker Austin MacGinnis of Sacramento, California. MacGinnis had recently played for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL and made all 10 of his field goal attempts.
There is no chance Harjullahu will be punting for the Rams. Los Angeles already has one of the best punters in the NFL with John Hekker of Redmond, Washington, who is a four-time Pro Bowler.
Harjullahu won a Grey Cup with the Argonauts. In fact, he kicked the game winning field goal in a 27-24 Argonauts win over the Calgary Stampeders with 53 seconds left on November 26, 2017.
